Tuesday, June 24, 2014

6-22-14

Hello Fam!

I hope that everything is going well. Well, the heat has come! It's crazy humid, but honestly, hot is hot :P whether it's humid or dry, it's still hot. As long as there is a bit of a breeze, it's not too bad, but that doesn't always happen. Sister Hooker and I decided that we just need to go tracting at night where the heat isn't half so bad. And I'm staying in Alpharetta with Sister Hooker! And I'm actually kind of excited to see what happens this transfer. There are a lot of things to look forward to and I'm excited to see it :) 

Ah man, I'm sad that I missed the apple picking fun stuff. It's funny that you talked about the peaches here. They're actually not all that popular. The peaches in North Carolina are much better so I've heard. Most of the people here say they weren't sure where that phrase of the Georgia peach came from :P 

Those oils are miracle workers. I love those things. And THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for the Avon spray!! It has been a life saver! I swear the little buggers here are a nightmare!! Luckily they haven't invaded the house! Only the fruit flies have gotten in, but those things don't bite, so I could care less about them. 

Things here in Webb Bridge are going good. The ward is being awesome about going on team ups and signing up to feed us. We're still trying to work on everyone signing up for all the missionaries (we've got three sets here. It's nuts!). But we've got a rockin' relief society auxiliary leader working with the relief society and our ward mission leader is awesome! We're still working on building our teaching pool. We've got quite a bit of work going with less actives and part member families, and there's another family that we might be working with in a couple of weeks that I'm excited about! Oh, I've got to tell you the story on them. 

So this happened yesterday. After church on our planner it said that we had a dinner over with the Maycock family. So we drive down there and get there a couple of minutes early. We decide to do a little tracting beforehand since we're early and end up knocking on a door. We decide to do one more door before we head in and end up meeting this family. They tell us they'll be out of town for a bit, but when they come back in July they want us to come back. Apparently they knew the Maycocks. They had gone to a couple of meetings in the past and were totally open in hearing what we had to say. So get this: we head back over to the Maycocks to tell them the good news and find out that we actually didn't have dinner with them that night. They had cancelled on the paper and another family was actually planning on feeding us. The other sisters thought they had told us that we were going to the other family, but we didn't remember. But it was so awesome, because if we hadn't had made the mistake of going over to the Maycocks we never would have met that family! It was super awesome!

Well, I hope that you guys are enjoying the summer heat! It's crazy. It rains here all the time. But it's so sporadic. The skies will be completely cleared and suddenly it's pouring! And then there was this one time where we were driving and it was a total downpour. The windshield wipers were going crazy. And we were like Geez, this is insane. I kid you not, five minutes later we drive and suddenly the rain is gone. It was like we had gone through a waterfall or something. It was crazy! It was pouring like crazy in one spot and the other was completely clear. Haha, the weather here is soo bizarre. I now know that I need to carry an umbrella with me all the time because it rains so randomly. And then I kid you not, about ten minutes later, it's completely clear and the sun is shining. It's insane. 

I love you all and miss you! I hope that you have a great week! Thanks for all that you do! 

Just Believe,
Sister Petersen

Wednesday, June 18, 2014

6-16-14

Hi Fam!

I love that quote mom! It's definitely true. Well, this week we had more success concerning investigators and exciting news. We've got an awesome golden contact that we're working with at the moment. Her name is Chastity and we're going to be meeting with her again this evening to teach the second lesson. The first lesson with her was rockin! She totally engaged in the conversation and she had her friend over so we gave them both a Book of Mormon and they both wanted to learn more. Chastity just soaked up the first lesson and even wanted to ask us for a return appointment. Sister Hooker and I were on Cloud Nine it was sooo awesome!!

We also have another family that we were working with, the Perry's, but we're going to have to refer them to the other missionaries. It was sad because their job was in our area and we taught them the first lesson. We tried to refer them to the other missionaries before, but they never called the family. So the family ended up calling us and wanted to have a sit down lesson with us. They were Golden! But, because they're not in our area, we still have to refer them to the other missionaries :( But that's okay, I hope that they can get baptized soon!!

All considering, life here in the mission is good. I'm still having my struggles, but Heavenly Father has been there the whole way. I can definitely see the hand of the Lord in this work. I'm excited to hear about any news for Anwa! Also, you didn't tell me about working in the homeless shelter! What were the details on that? I'm glad that you're still talking to Lee! Is she still friends but completely closed off to the gospel? I'm glad to hear that you gals are still talking. 

Hey, have you ever gone on a team up with the missionaries before? Since dad has his calling, I'm guessing he has, but have you mom? It's really cool! Haha, and since I'm a missionary I can totally advocate for it, but I bet the missionaries would love it if you could go with them, or even have one of the investigators their teaching come over to the house. It's crazy to have this new perspective on missionary work. Now that I am a missionary, it makes me want to be a better member missionary. Since the missionaries have to worry about miles, I want to be the kind of person that's willing to drive them to places and be like, I'm free for the night, where do you need to go and what can I do for you. I bet the missionaries would love that! The ward is being so awesome at getting the missionary bug going. More people are signing up to feed us and to go on team ups with us. It's insane what all is happening! 

And and!! We got one of our less actives to come to church!! We didn't even have to invite her! We just saw her sitting on the bench and we were both dumb struck to see her! It was a miracle. It was almost even more exciting than getting a baptism it was so cool. 

I hope that all is well back home! Have fun at the cabin and picking those apples :P Love you!

Just Believe,
Sister Petersen

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

6-9-14

Hi Fam!

Oh my goodness it sounds like there have been some fun things happening back home. Sorry it's been so hot, but I'm glad that the mornings and evenings have been great. It's been pretty warm and muggy around here. It's AWFUL when there isn't a breeze when we go tracting. It feels like the air is just Stagnant and you're walking in a sauna. I hope you guys can get some rain soon. I do have a subway in the area, and I have yet to use my card that I want to use, but I'm excited to use it :) Congratulations to Jason getting married! That's so fun :) I'm sure if you pointed her out to me, I'll probably recognize her. I'm glad that you got to sit down in a session. Man! I can't wait to go to the temple!! And that's awesome that the Seagull Bookstore is closer!
That's SO Exciting for Bobby and Bowen!! Congrats to them! Oh, that's so awesome! And Ryan got his papers in!! IT'S ABOUT TIME!!! Good! He's going to love it soooo much. It'll be hard, but he'll love it. I'm so stoked for him! When he finds out where he goes, will you send me his address? I'd love to write him some letters :)

This week truly has been better than other weeks. It's been tough, but I've been learning so much and God has been with me all the way. We've got some families and people that we're excited to start teaching this week. We've got the Ding family. They're from China. When we went tracting, they welcomed us into their home and let us share our message. They don't have much of a religious background and wanted to learn more. Their kids were so cute! They're named Tracy, Teddy, and Terry. The Dad's name is Jason and the wife is named Ping. (Awful name, Ping Ding, I feel so bad for her). 

And And!! We had another awesome miracle! So we had a referral from exchanges. Sister Hooker went to Johns Creek and found out about the Perry family. They work in our area, but their home is outside of it. So we were asked to just check in on them and see how they were doing. They said that'd they might be interesting in getting the lessons. They had friends who were l.d.s. and had been working with them for a while. We did so and told them that we could stop by every so often, but the other missionaries in Atlanta would have to teach them. Well... the other day they ended up calling us and told us they wanted us to come talk to them! And not just talk, but have a sit down lesson with them at their office! It was so awesome! I guess the other missionaries had never contacted them, so we're going to see them this week and start teaching them. It was super exciting! Sister Hooker and I were on cloud nine! We've also got a couple of other people that we tracted into this week, so we're hopeful that they'll turn out to be some awesome contacts.

Thank you for your prayers and your fasting. They truly have been helping out. Please don't stop, transfers are coming in about two and a half weeks, and I get the feeling that I might be leaving. It's also possible that I'll be staying for another six weeks, but I won't know until later :) I have no idea what to expect, but it's probably going to be a little rough. They're going to be June 25th, soooo if I happen to be a bit of an emotional wreck during that time, that'll be why. But, things are much better than what they were. Thank you for the letters. They really mean the world to me. It means a lot knowing that I have a family who's awesome and is there for me. So thank you.

 I hope that everyone is doing well! Keep up the good work and don't give up on the missionary efforts :) Have a great week!

Just Believe,
Sister Petersen

Monday, June 2, 2014

6-2-14


Hello hello! 

I hope that everyone is doing well this week! Things have definitely had their ups and downs this week :P But things are slowly moving forward. Time just always keeps on ticking away. Sister Hooker and I are trying to get more people to teach. We've been working with a woman named Beverly this week and we actually ended up teaming up with one of the members of our ward who got along really well with her. Which was awesome! We've been really needing someone to get with her to feel more love from the ward. She didn't end up going to church, but we're hopeful for next week. (Her husband has been having trouble, he's pretty much blind and almost all deaf. So she's been really struggling to try and take care of him. It's been really hard for her.)

Alot of what we've been doing is trying to get to know the ward better here. And it's been really cool. This ward has a lot of young families so it's been interesting trying to find fun activities for the kids to do while we try to also teach the adults. We did a fun little experiment with food coloring and 1% milk in a pie tin. You drop a drop of food coloring in the milk and then touch it with the tip of a q tip with dish soap on it and the color bursts out and hits the other colors. The kids loved it! And then we shared about how our testimonies do the same thing. And that the more we share it, the more seeds that are planted. 

Well this month of June we've had a mission fast to become more consecrated missionaries. The goal is to be more diligent and dedicated for the work. We had zone conference last week all about it. And I'm excited for the new President that's coming in. His name is President Benyen (I think that's how you spell it) they look like a really nice couple and I'm really excited to see what things will happen when they come! 

There have been a lot of little miracles that I've seen this week. So many times where we meet people that share something that we needed to hear. (Oh my goodness, last week we had a day filled with just biking and walking in the humid weather. We were trying to save on miles but it was ridiculous. We didn't go inside at all that day. It was such a blessing when we were able to go and visit the old bishop in the ward who let us in and talked with us. He normally wouldn't have done it because his wife isn't doing well, but he let us come in. It was such a blessing.)

But God is good and the work keeps moving forward. I'm learning so much and it's truly been such a blessing to be out here. I hope that everyone is doing great! Oh and the weather today has been gorgeous!! It hasn't been half as humid and there's been such a nice breeze. I think it's been in the eighties, but it's been soooo nice today and yesterday. Anyways, thanks for all that you do! Have a fantastic week!

Just Believe,
Sister Petersen